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PROPERTY

Can foreigners buy property in Austria?

More and more people are moving to Austria from abroad, while others might be planning to do so in the future. So how easy is it for foreign nationals to buy a home in Austria?

Published: 11 May 2021 14:24 CEST
Updated: 2 November 2023 16:04 CET
Views like these explain the appeal for buyers in Salzburg. AFP PHOTO / ALEXANDER KLEIN. 
Views like these explain the appeal for buyers in Salzburg. AFP PHOTO / ALEXANDER KLEIN. 

Despite the economic uncertainty hitting sectors such as tourism in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, property prices have continued to boom in Austria. 

Prices have risen by 50 percent over the last decade. 

READ MORE: Where have housing prices risen in Austria during the pandemic?

So with buying becoming a more attractive option for whoever can afford it, can foreigners in Austria buy property? 

And what are the rules? 

Here’s what you need to know. 

Can foreigners buy a home in Austria? 

The short answer to the question is ‘yes’, but a lot will depend on your legal status with regard to residency, the type of property you want to purchase and the country – and state – in which you reside. 

First things first, check your residency status

If you are living in Austria as an EU/EFTA citizen you have the same rights as Austrian citizens when it comes to purchasing property, providing you plan to live in it as your main residence.

What about ‘third-country nationals’ who live in Austria? 

OK, so you might not be an EU/EFTA citizen, but you live in Austria as a national from a non-EU country – making you a ‘third-country national’. 

A third person national can only buy property in Austria if they have a permanent residence permit. 

Austria consists of nine federal states, and the laws about buying property are different for each of them. In most of these states, before a buyer from outside the EU can buy a property, the purchase must be approved by the real estate commission, which varies from state to state.

Getting permission can take anything between three to four weeks to several months.

The Austrian government website states “Requests are approved if the transaction is of cultural, social, or macroeconomic interest and no national interests are negatively affected.”

You can find out more about the rules in each individual states by clicking the following links (in German).

Two notable exceptions are in the city of Graz (Styria) and Vienna.

In Graz no extra permit is required for third country citizens who wish to buy a property there.

In Vienna, if you are a third country national married to an Austrian citizen, extra authorisation is also not required.

The Local spoke to estate agent Vana Doranovic, who works for Tristar.

She said the reason extra permission was needed for non EU citizens to buy property in Austria was to ensure there was sufficient housing for Austrian citizens and to prevent land and housing prices being driven up by “speculation”. 
 
She said: “If you live and work in Austria, and have a valid residence permit, you can usually buy a property. However, this should only for your own residential purposes. If you already own an apartment and you want to move to a different one, you should sell the one you own first.  
 
“In practice, we very often broker apartments in Vienna to non-EU citizens, and we have yet to experience a rejection from the Grundverkehrskommission” (the organisation which oversees land transfers in each federal state in Austria).  
 
She said getting approval to buy an apartment for a non-EU citizen could take between two and six months, so it was important to find a seller who was willing to wait for the buyer to be approved.

Buying a holiday home or second home

Charming scenes such as this draw people to Tyrol (Photo by JOE KLAMAR / AFP)

If you want to buy a holiday home or second home in Austria, you will face additional hurdles. Even EU citizens face extra hurdles in buying in Austria. 

The German magazine New Business reported in 2019 that EU citizens buying a holiday home in the most touristy parts of Austria (Tyrol, Salzburg or Vorarlberg) must get a leisure residence permit (Freizeitwohnsitzbescheid) which can take “many years”. The Luxury Vienna website comments it is “practically impossible” to buy a holiday home in these areas. 

There are also increasing crackdowns in these states on people who have bought homes which they claim are their primary residence and then used them as holiday homes, according to the German lawyer Dr Hannes Wiesflecker. 

Buyers must indicate from the start if they are buying the residence for permanent residential use. If, after signing the documents, a violation of the regulations is discovered, such as using the property for a second or holiday home, the buyer risks paying a fine of €25,000 euros.

More information on buying a second home in Austria can be found at the following link. 

READ MORE: How can I buy a second home in Austria?

Useful vocabulary

Real estate commission – Grundverkehrskommission 

Leisure residence permit – Freizeitwohnsitzbescheid

Land acquisition by foreign nationals – Ausländergrunderwerbsgesetz

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For members

RESIDENCY PERMITS

EXPLAINED: What rights do I have if I’m married to an Austrian citizen?

If you’re a non-EU foreigner married to an Austrian citizen, some of the bureaucracy that comes with living in Austria is just a little bit easier than it would be otherwise – on everything from residency to buying property.

Published: 7 November 2023 12:38 CET
Updated: 3 April 2024 14:02 CEST
EXPLAINED: What rights do I have if I'm married to an Austrian citizen?

Plenty of foreigners move to Austria for love – and hopefully, that love is strong enough to stand the test of not only time – but Austrian bureaucracy.

Even though marriage to an Austrian makes some residence, citizenship, and property buying rules a little easier – there’s still plenty of caveats to be aware of, so it’s best to know exactly what your rights are.

Will Austria recognise my marriage or partnership?

If you and your Austrian partner were married in Austria, this question is pretty straightforward. Your Austrian marriage licence will provide pretty airtight proof of your commitment for the purposes of things like residency.

If you were married abroad though, you may need to bring your foreign marriage certificate to your local authority to be recognised. You will probably also have to provide a certified translation if it’s in a language other than English or German.

Registered partnerships are also recognised under Austrian law for the purposes of family reunification as well as marriage certificates.

Austria also recognises both registered partnerships and marriages between same-sex partners.

EXPLAINED: How to have your marriage abroad recognised in Austria

Residency in Austria

Non-EU partners of Austrian or EU citizens can typically apply for a “Family Member” visa or residence permit to both enter and reside in Austria – provided they have reached the age of 21.

If the non-EU partner has a passport from a country whose nationals enjoy visa-free access to Austria, they can come to Austria without a visa and apply for the residence permit within three months. Otherwise, they’ll need to apply for a Family Visa from their responsible Austrian mission abroad.

The Family Member residence permit is typically valid for 12 months and thus requires regular renewal.

However, it generally comes with unrestricted access to the Austrian labour market. This includes the right to work in Austria without satisfying a labour market test, having to meet a minimum salary threshold, and without having to fulfill a requisite number of criteria under Austria’s points-based immigration system. Holders of this permit are also not limited to working in the area of their education or training, as holders of many other Austrian residence permits are.

Austria recognises registered partnerships and marriages performed abroad, including those between same-sex spouses, for the purpose of family reunification.
Photo by Patrick HAMILTON / AFP

EXPLAINED: How to get married in Austria as a foreigner

Under this permit though, non-EU spouses still have a few things to prove. They’ll have to prove that they and their partner have a monthly income of at least €1,751.56, plus an additional €171.31 for each child they have. They’ll also have to prove that they have accommodation in Austria that’s large enough for their family and have health insurance. Typically though, non-EU spouses can often be easily covered under their Austrian or EU partner’s insurance.

They will also have to prove that they have German language skills at an A1 level – which is the lowest possible level of proficiency in German.

The non-EU spouse will need to provide proof of all these requirements, along with their valid passport, their partner’s passport or other valid proof of nationality, and their marriage certificate.

After five years of continuous residence in Austria, the non-EU spouse can apply for permanent residence in Austria. Once they have permanent residence, a divorce will not affect their eligibility to remain in Austria. However, a non-EU spouse who divorces their Austrian partner may have to leave Austria if they are on the Family Member residence permit. This isn’t always true though. A non-EU partner who divorces their Austrian or EU partner due to abuse may end up being granted the right to stay in Austria.

Divorce in Austria: How the ‘culpability principle’ works and what you need to know about it

Automatic dual citizenship for your kids

If you are married to an Austrian national, any kids you have with them will automatically be entitled to keep both their Austrian passport, plus yours.

Although Austrian nationality law is generally restrictive on dual citizenship, one of the few cases where it is allowed concerns children who are born to both an Austrian and a foreign parent.

Although dual nationality is restricted in Austria, marriage between an Austrian and a foreigner can often result in children having dual citizenship. (Photo by Juliane Liebermann on Unsplash)

Austrian fathers who have children out of wedlock with foreign mothers will typically have to legally acknowledge their children within two months of their birth in order to pass on citizenship. If the couple is married though, an Austrian father will automatically pass on his citizenship to his child without this step.

EXPLAINED: When is dual citizenship allowed in Austria?

Austrian citizenship through marriage

You cannot simply become Austrian by marrying an Austrian citizen.

In fact, you will still have to fulfill the requirements that any other applicant for Austrian citizenship would have to fulfill in order to receive an Austrian passport. This includes B1 German language skills and giving up your previous passport in most cases.

There is one edge non-EU nationals married to Austrians get though – they can apply for Austrian citizenship after a shorter period of residence in Austria.

Although most foreigners aren’t eligible to apply for Austrian citizenship until they’ve been resident in Austria for at least ten years, non-EU nationals married to Austrians can apply after six years – provided they’ve been married for at least five of those previous six years.

If you take the shorter route though, your German will have to be a bit better than the B1 normally expected. You’ll instead have to pass B2 German – one language level higher than normal.

READ ALSO: Five surprising Austrian citizenship rules you should know about

Buying property in Vienna

Foreigners buying property in Austria face a load of hurdles in most cases.

In western states like Tyrol and Vorarlberg, only Austrian and other EU/EEA nationals can buy property. In most of the rest of the country, only foreigners holding permanent residence may buy. Even then, they’ll need to seek approval from their state’s real estate commission – a process that can take many months and deter some sellers from working with foreign buyers.

Styria puts no such restrictions on foreigners. Vienna does, but waives them in once key instance – when the buyers are a married couple where at least one in Austrian.

In these cases, the couple buying property in Vienna don’t need to seek real estate commission approval for the purchase.

READ ALSO: Can foreigners buy property in Austria?

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